Come Forth, Spring
An illo about cherry blossoms, plus what the heck are we doing here
not a cherry blossom
A new season approacheth, and I’m blogging again.
Like a lot of artists, I’ve long become disenchanted with Instagram. In the interest of not giving Zuck money to buy more acreage in Hawaii so he can expand his collection of beer-drinking wagyu beef cows, I’d like to spend less time there. I’ve often considered leaving altogether. As a visual artist it’s hard to let go of a space where I’ve posted my work for over ten years, but one foot is out the door as it is.
Lately I’ve found myself seeking out blogs like those I used to read a decade ago. I miss long-form posts. I yearn for images bigger than the tiny ones on my phone screen. I miss having more information than can be squeezed into a caption and a carousel. And I missed blogging myself - I had one, long ago, called LITTLE WOLF. It was fun and I miss the visual diary-ness of it all. Rip, old blog.
During a sunny neighborhood walk a couple weeks ago, I caught sight of a smattering of lavender crocuses emerging from the ground. I got so excited. Crocus is the harbinger of Spring.
Since then I was thinking about the cherry blossom trees along the waterfront. They come into bloom each year from about mid-March through April. Last Spring, at the end of March, I plopped my kids into the wagon and walked down to the waterfront along the Willamette River to have a picnic under their fluffy blooms.
So fluff
I wanted to make an illustration inspired by these colors, and the joy we felt in basking in the warm sun, relishing the change of the season. I’ve been working more with gouache, crayon, and colored pencil lately and experimenting with thicker layers of paint. Some illustrations feel like a struggle to make. This was not - it flowed easily and I very much enjoyed the process.
I’m still feeling things out here, but I expect to be posting a few times a month: process posts like this one, a comic or two, an inspo or tutorial post, and I’m still debating on doing one big monthly newsletter.
That’s all for now! See you next time, friends.
